WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 109: Beast, Beast King, Human - 5

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Once my escape trick was over.

Dozens of expressions crossed Lieutenant General Ebon's face.

Confusion, emptiness, anger, despair, a sense of failure, remorse, indignation, and more.

But what could Ebon do? It would have been different if she had noticed me undoing the chain halfway through. Now that she was already far away, there was nothing she could do.

"Lieutenant Colonel!"

"Hyu!"

The immortal and Tyr arrived just then. Rashy rushed over and caught Callis as she began to collapse, while Tyr looked me over as though she had no interest in the bleeding Callis.

"Were you startled? What were you thinking, running off alone like that? You should've at least told me!"

That was impossible. If I'd told this vampire, who only cared whether I lived or died, she would've stopped me first even if she eventually let me go.

Rather than answer honestly, I shrugged and trailed off.

"I'm fine. Please return that person's blood first."

Tyr narrowed her eyes at my casual reply.

"Blood?"

"Yes. Even if your bloodcraft is weaker, you can still return freely flowing blood to the body, right?"

Long ago, Tyr had been a healer. Back then, she used bloodcraft to stop people's wounds from bleeding.

Since she could do that then, she should be able to return blood now that she had regained her life. Just as I made that perfectly reasonable request, Tyr puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

"Was that soldier's life so precious to you? Precious enough to risk your own life?"

'I was worried sick that you might die, yet you care even less for your own life than I do!'

Oh dear, she was really angry. How was I supposed to deal with this?

Should I win through an argument? Or appeal to her emotions?

Things weren't over yet, so I should probably take the easy route.

Instead of talking back, I lifted a hand and played with Tyr's hair. Fine silver strands rolled softly across my fingertips.

Tyr stopped speaking and flinched at the sudden closeness. I slowly tousled the silver hair resting in my palm, then brought it close to my nose.

"If I died, you would've turned me into a vampire."

It was a little beside the point, saying that becoming a vampire would make death fine. Still, if I wanted to touch someone's heart, it needed weight rather than logic.

At that almost-confession, Tyr answered timidly.

"Th-that is true, but... my bloodcraft is incomplete...."

I asked innocently, "You can't do it?"

"Even if you became a vampire through my blood, if we were far apart... your blood would not move properly."

"It doesn't work if we're far apart?"

Smiling faintly, I held her hair beneath my nose and murmured, "Then we'll have to stay close. Still, if it means I get to live, it's worth putting up with, right?"

"Guh...!"

Tyr's face turned as red as a radish. It seemed her heart was working properly.

She instinctively moved away from me, then snapped at me and headed toward Callis.

"...Just try dying. I'll bring you back and work you to death!"

Then Tyr returned Callis's blood as I had asked. She even gathered darkness around Callis's body to hold her together.

Rashy understood there was nothing he could do for Callis, so he left her to Tyr and stepped back. With his hands free, he approached me.

"Teacher, well done!"

"I did work hard. Enough that I should be able to rest soon."

"Still, I must point this out! You are quite mischievous! Playing tricks even in such a desperate situation!"

"Playing tricks?"

"Pretending you couldn't undo the chain!"

"Huh? Did that look like a prank to you?"

"...Was it not?"

Rashy blinked.

Wow. I saved a life, and he was criticizing me? Unable to hide my grievance, I shouted loud enough to shake the world.

"Oh, come on. I worked so hard, and now you're picking at my attitude! If I'd undone the chain right away, do you think that lieutenant general would've simply backed off? She would've thrown a blade at me immediately!"

"Now that I think about it, that is true! I have no rebuttal!"

Rashy immediately understood and nodded.

"You looked so pleased with yourself that I misunderstood! My apologies!"

"I'll forgive you, so behave yourself from now on."

I had enjoyed it.

Still, that should be considered a secondary factor. If I had to act for safety anyway, it was better if I enjoyed it too.

"By the way, you are quite skilled. To undo it in such a short time."

I shrugged.

"This is what happens when you use a weapon with no proper foundation, like a claw. Weapons should be one solid piece, not something assembled or detachable."

It wasn't as though Ebon had wanted to use it either. A military state's general could not reach that rank after giving up the weapon best suited to them.

Just then.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Azzy came running from the other side, barking happily. A chain tied to the claw's grip hung from her arm, and the ten-meter chain rolled like waves every time she ran.

The moment Ebon failed, she fled somewhere, so Azzy immediately ran to me without interference.

"You really had a hard time."

I thought it was touching that she ran straight to me after seeing me the most, proof that raising a dog had been worthwhile... but for some reason, Azzy didn't slow down. Instead, she leaped into my arms.

"Urk!"

I was confident I could fall disgracefully even if an ordinary dog jumped on me, but Azzy's body was that of an adult. With a chain hanging from her too, even I couldn't hold my ground.

Azzy climbed on top of me after I fell and repeatedly licked my face.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Ah, damn it. Hey! I'm not hurt! Stop licking me!"

"Woof!"

It was nice that she seemed grateful, but she was paying me back the wrong way. Rather than lick me, I wished she had brought me money from somewhere.

As I untied the chain around Azzy's hand, I spoke to her.

"That's enough, Azzy. You have something to do."

"Woof?"

"There's a cat outside. Not a person as prickly as a cat, a real cat."

"Woof!"

How uncomfortable had she been until now? Bound by a chain around her arm, and bound by a promise too. Ah, how much she must have suffered because I hadn't said these words sooner.

Clank.

The chain fell away.

I gave Azzy, whose hands were finally free, the command that would undo the chains restraining her.

"That cat is bothering us. Go bite it."

"...Grrr."

With permission granted, Azzy bared her teeth eagerly. She sprang up from above me, then walked outside with a low growl loud enough to shake the entire Abyss.

Good. The regressor seemed to have Nabi nearly dealt with outside too. Once Azzy got there, it would definitely be over.

With the job mostly done, I dusted off my hands. All that remained was...

"Huh? Mr. Rashy. Where are you going?"

When I looked up, the immortal was striding off somewhere. At my question, Rashy waved a hand.

"Ah, pay it no mind! I wanted to see the lieutenant general, so I'm going to find Ebon!"

"The lieutenant general?"

"Yes. There is something I wish to ask!"

I glanced toward Tyr. Perhaps because the range of her bloodcraft had narrowed, Tyr was pressed close to Callis and couldn't watch this way.

I carefully got to my feet and followed Rashy.

"What a coincidence. I have something to ask Ebon too. Let's go together."

"I'm not particularly going to fight. Will that be all right?"

"I'm not particularly going to fight either. I just have something to ask."

"Very well! Then let us...!"

I hurriedly put a finger in front of my nose.

"Shh. Quiet. Let's sneak there too. If Tyr hears that I'm going to see the lieutenant general, she'll make a scene."

Rashy blinked, understood what I meant, and lowered his voice.

"Ha ha! You sound like an outsider cast out by his wife! Fine. Let us go! Secretly!"

Being cast out would be the least of my problems. Imagine getting hit by that fist. It was the fist that had brought the Beast King to the brink of death in one blow.

She didn't know how to use it properly yet, but if Tyr learned to wield it fully... Whew.

I shook my head and followed the immortal.

With the stealth of a cat beastkin, Lieutenant General Ebon was making for the rooftop. Rashy and I followed behind.

'It was a miserable failure. I have always been prepared to die, but I cannot die after failing like this.'

Even in this state, Ebon desperately clawed upward toward life.

I could applaud that tenacity for life. But I knew what it was. It was the cry of someone searching for a period.

A flame that calmly burned other books for the perfect period that would never be ready.

'The greatest cause was... that dangerous individual. I heard the Sixth General, Absolute Sonata, had subdued the person. Then the person should be several levels below her. I thought I could manage somehow if I used the King of Cats or intervened myself....'

The regressor was an unknown variable to Ebon. Unlike the Beast King or the Progenitor, the regressor was a dangerous individual whose very existence was unclear, making it difficult to approach carelessly.

It was reassuring that Ebon's impression was similar to mine.

What a relief. The regressor wasn't violent only toward me. Regressor, you were a fair disaster that threatened everyone.

'...But even so, things went strangely badly. The lieutenant colonel betrayed us, and the colonel and the King of Cats were helpless to an absurd degree. There must have been another variable I failed to account for....'

Another variable you failed to account for?

We called that the world. The world was made of nothing but variables.

You weren't some cowardly prophet. You couldn't predict and see everything in the world beforehand.

'So I must get outside somehow. I will sink this Tantalus. Along with every variable.'

"You can't do that! There are people on board!"

At my shout, Ebon, who had been walking toward the center of the rooftop, flinched and turned around. Before long, Rashy and I reached the rooftop too.

Even after seeing us, Ebon greeted us without a sign of tension.

"Ah, the immortal and the laborer."

Rashy spoke to Ebon.

"Good to see you, Lieutenant General. I am Rashy. I am also the person you tore to pieces."

"And despite that, you have revived and stand before me."

It was a smooth reply. Ebon seemed remarkably relaxed for someone being pursued.

Rashy nodded deeply.

"That is so! Well, I bear no grudge against you, Lieutenant General. If I bore grudges whenever my body was damaged, the world would be full of people I resented! This is a secret, but everyone in this Abyss has played with my body at least once!"

Well, Azzy, the regressor, Tyr, and I had all damaged Rashy's body.

Rashy declared it boldly. The lieutenant general smiled kindly in reply.

"Yes. You were that sort of person. Thanks to that, I did not feel too guilty when I tore you apart."

"It is all right! There is no need to feel guilty about tearing me apart! The people here did not feel guilty toward me either!"

...I'm sorry, Mr. Rashy.

Before he started bearing a grudge, I apologized silently in advance.

"Still! There is something I am curious about!"

Footnotes:

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